From the 'Well of the Retching Cure' to a commuter village on the M9 motorway

Paulstown People Emigrating to Australia 1849-1867

I have compiled a listing of all those who gave their ‘origin location’ (home) as Paulstown in the Assisted Immigrant Passenger List to New South Wales Australia 1828-1896[1] . Assisted immigrants were those who had their passage partly or wholly paid by another person or by an agency. Those who mention Paulstown show up between the years 1849-1867. This, of course, covers the year of The Famine and would be one of the main reasons why people emigrated.

In all, 44 people are listed. Compared with passenger lists to America of the same time period, the genealogical information they provide is excellent. The immigrant had to provide their name, age, parents names, occupation and if they had any relations in Australia. Unfortunately, not all of these lists were legible. Where this is the case the unknown word is signified by _____ . A question mark after a word indicates I am pretty sure that is it. Some people have two dates listed. The first date refers to the “List of Immigrants Per Ship’ and is the day the ship arrived. The second date refers to the “List of Immigrants Per Ship as Inspected by the Immigration Board”. Some people did not have the second document available for examination.

This list shows how many of the young people of the Paulstown area left for Australia, most likely never to return. In a good few cases siblings travel together or in chain migration, following each other after a couple of years. No doubt, many more people from the Paulstown area emigrated to Australia in the 19th and 20th centuries. Hopefully I will be able to document these people as time progresses. If anyone has information on an ancestor from Paulstown who emigrated to Australia, and they are not listed here, then I would be very grateful if you could add their information in a comment under this blog entry.

The first entry, for Catherine Balkin, has a piece of information which is fantastic find for a genealogist, and any of her descendants.

New South Wales Government. “Returns of convicts applications for wives and families to be brought to New South Wales at Government expense.” Series 1190, Reel 699. State Records Authority of New South Wales, Kingswood, New South Wales.

New South Wales Government. “Persons on bounty ships (Agent’s Immigrant Lists).” Series 5316, Reels 2134-2143. State Records Authority of New South Wales, Kingswood, New South Wales.

New South Wales Government. “Persons on early migrant ships (Fair Copy).” Series 5310, Reel 1286. State Records Authority of New South Wales, Kingswood, New South Wales.

New South Wales Government. “Wage agreements and entitlement certificates of persons on bounty ships (Agent’s Immigrant Lists).” Series 5315, Reels 2449-2456. State Records Authority of New South Wales, Kingswood, New South Wales.

New South Wales Government. “Persons on bounty ships to Sydney, Newcastle, and Moreton Bay (Board’s Immigrant Lists).” Series 5317, Reels 2458-2498. State Records Authority of New South Wales, Kingswood, New South Wales.

New South Wales Government. “Persons on bounty ships arriving at Port Phillip (Agent’s Immigrant Lists).” Series 5318, Reels 2143A-2145. State Records Authority of New South Wales, Kingswood, New South Wales.

New South Wales Government. “Passengers arriving at Sydney 1846 (Agent’s Immigrant Lists).” Series 5326, Reel 2457. State Records Authority of New South Wales, Kingswood, New South Wales.

New South Wales Government. “Germans on bounty ships.” Series 5320, Reel 851. State Records Authority of New South Wales, Kingswood, New South Wales.